Blurb:ALL THE BETTER TO READ YOU WITHIt’s a prick of blood, the bite of an apple, the evil eye, a wedding ring or a pair of red shoes. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and they can happen to anyone – not just those of us with unpopular step-parents …..Here you’ll find unique twists on curses, from fairy tale classics to brand new hexes of the modern world – expect new monsters and mythologies as well as twists on well-loved fables. Stories to shock and stories of warning, stories of monsters and stories of magic.EIGHTEEN TIMELESS FOLKTALES. NEW AND OLD

Blurb‘We’ve all heard rumour: that the austerity measures will be over by Christmas. That there will be a Christmas…’ ” But now the prime minister, in the opulent surroundings of a banqueting hall, has publicly called for permanent austerity.

The Con Dem Coalition government’s policies have brought real life horror stories: cancer patients bullied by the DWP, bereaved parents forced out of homes by the bedroom tax, pregnant migrants endangered by avoiding medical help in fear of hospital bills.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, Gray Friar Press presents macabre tales from the frontline of aus-terror-ty. We asked fine writers of horror to bring dark visions of a society blighted by poverty, debt and privatisation, exploring what ghosts, private madness and afterlife such a world might bring.

The anthology counters a culture encouraging ordinary people to scapegoat benefit claimants and migrant workers, show-casing fiction that examines the real roots of a crisis that causes hardship for many and lining the pockets of few.

Here you will encounter the……terrible price exacted for treatment in a private hospital……ancient curse on an abandoned housing development……torture gang of wealthy thugs who hunt the poor……suicidal apparitions encountered by a healthcare P.R. man…

Such acclaimed talents as Alison Littlewood, John Llewellyn Probert, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Gary McMahon, Anna Taborska, Joel Lane, Simon Bestwick, Andrew Hook, and Priya Sharma invoke a world where you queue to join the queues, personal space is strictly rationed, and sadistic game-shows control the population.

Blurb:IS THIS THE END . . . OR JUST THE BEGINNING? Human Reanimation Virus (HRV) has spread around the globe and most of the major cities have fallen or been destroyed. As a new race of intelligent zombies rise to power, the remaining pockets of human resistance make a last, desperate stand in the ruins of a world on the brink of unimaginable change. With the final pieces of the epic puzzle falling into place, a centuries-old Endgame is revealed through interconnected emails, articles, reports, diaries and eyewitness accounts, as past and future hang in the balance. In this third and final volume of the original best-selling Zombie Apocalypse! trilogy, Thomas Moreby’s plan for world domination is finally revealed in all its mad glory, as the very fabric of time and space is ripped apart and history itself is about to be changed forever . . .

Simon Avery – In October We Buried The MonstersThe Decapitation DeviceKeris McDonald – The Coat Off His BackHaunting Memories of the PastMark Morris – They Walk As MenThe Yorkshire WitchesAlison Littlewood – On Ilkley Moor The Black Monk of PontefractStephen Laws – The Crawl The Woman in the RainGary McMahon – Ragged The HobmanChristopher Harman – A True YorkshiremanThe Town Where Darkness Was BornMark Chadbourn – All Things Considered, I’d Rather Be In Hell A Feast For CrowsChico Kidd – The Demon of Flowers City of the DeadStephen Bacon – The Summer of BradburyRadiant BeingsRosalie Parker – Random FlightDeath in the HarryingSimon Clark – The Rhubarb FestivalThe AlienGary Fry – The Crack The Boggart of Bunting NookJason Gould – A Story From When We Had Nothing

Blurb:Yorkshire – a rolling landscape of verdant dales and quaint country towns. But where industrial fires left hideous scars, forlorn ruins echo the shrieks of forgotten wars, and depraved killers evoke nightmare tales of ogres, trolls and wild moorland boggarts…

Here is the annual selection of some of the very finest, and most disturbing, short stories of horror and the supernatural published in the past year by both contemporary masters of horror and exciting newcomers, including Terry Dowling, Gemma Files, Joel Lane, Claire Masset, Thana Niveau, Lynda E. Rucker, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Mark Valentine, and a bewitching poem by Niel Gaiman.

The latest volume of the record-breaking and multiple award-winning anthology series also offers an in-depth introduction covering the year in horror, an informative Necrology of notable names who are no longer with us, and a useful contact directory that is an indispensable resource for every dedicated horror fan and writer.

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror is the world’s leading annual anthology dedicated solely to showcasing the very best in contemporary horror fiction in all its many frightening forms.`Yet another celebration of the diversity of the horror genre.’ – Locus`A top-quality body of short stories.’ – Writing Magazine

The giggling horror of Dagworth The wandering torso of Happisburgh The vile apparitions at Wicken The slavering beast of Rendlesham The faceless evil on Wallasea The killer hounds of Southery The dark guardian of Wandlebury

And many more chilling tales by Alison Littlewood, Reggie Oliver, Roger Johnson, Steve Duffy and other award-winning masters and mistresses of the macabre.